Easter

Spring sunlight and its promise of rebirth have long been cause for celebration after the cold, dark winter. An enduring symbol heralding this change of season is the natural wonder that is the egg. Eggs have been colored, blessed, exchanged, and eaten as part of the rites of spring for centuries. Long before Jewish families placed a roasted egg on their seder plates at Passover, and well before the Christian era of Easter eggs, the Chinese, Persians, Egyptians, and Greeks had spring rituals and celebrations featuring eggs.

Easter arrivals Teuscher, the Swiss luxury chocolatier in the Shops at the Bellevue, is primed for Easter with exquisite new solid chicks and bunnies that fit snugly inside chocolate egg shells or bunny boxes. Dark or milk chocolates, also available fructose-sweetened.   Spring forward Edy is introducing two delicious Antioxidant Fruit Bars: Acai Blueberry and Pomegranate. Tart and tangy, they're fat- free, made with real fruit, and only 70 calories each. Too good.

Making friends with a baby rabbit is Sean Fast, 2, of Maple Shade. Sean's buddy was among hundreds being sold at Martin's Aquarium and Pet Store in Cherry Hill for Easter today. The store says it usually sells at least 400 bunnies during the Easter season. The price of a Peter cottontail this year? $9.95 and up.

The Rev. Eleanor Woodroffe puts ashes on the head of a worshipper at St. Luke's Lutheran Church in Germantown yesterday. Christians observe Ash Wednesday as the beginning of Lent, which commemorates the time Jesus spent in the wilderness. Lent, a time of reflection, prayer and sacrifice, ends on Easter Sunday.

EASTER is a day for color, and the faithful brought it out for everyone to see. I visited churches and brunches to capture the pageantry of kids in colorful dresses, ladies with embellished hats, and gentlemen looking dapper. n Contact Reuben Harley at BIGRUBE@streetgazing.com , follow him on twitter @BigRubeHarley or read his blog at streetgazing.com .

Parx Racing and Harrah's Chester harness will be closed for live racing on Easter Sunday. Both tracks will be open on Monday. In addition, Parx will close from April 27 to May 6 while Greenwood conducts live racing at Atlantic City Race Track for two weeks. The dates at Atlantic City are April 28-30, May 1-3, with first post at 3:30 p.m., and all races on the grass.

The city of Philadelphia isn't staging its traditional Easter Sunday parade on Rittenhouse Square, but that doesn't mean you'll be all dressed up with nowhere to go on April 19. Rather, you can head to South Street for that neighborhood's Easter promenade, for which the city now has joined the sponsorship team, or to Ocean City, which is hosting a weekend of Easter activities. On South Street, dress in your best or go eccentric. The promenade will form at the 800 block at noon, head east to Front Street, make an about-face and return to Second and South, where judges will select the finalists.

What's up Sunday? A basketful, that's what. First up, of course, is Easter, a day when people get decked out in their finest threads, bonnets and bootees. A day for parades, promenades and pageants. It's also a day when people flock to church services in higher numbers than usual. This year, they will be doing all of that in an atmosphere of gloom. Accu- Weather said that, after a cloudy day tomorrow possibly with rain, Easter Sunday will be cloudy with even more rain.

There is one big prohibition and a half dozen permissions when it comes to preaching to the Easter Only Crowd. The prohibition is obvious: Make no reference whatsoever to the obvious fact that you haven't seen much of this particular crowd lately. That would be like yelling, "It's about time" at a teenager who has just cleaned up his room. Reward the positive behavior; do not punish the past. Punishment works only when we catch people in the act: That means we can call them some Sundays at 10 a.m. and get somewhere with negative remarks.

St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church in South Camden will continue its long-standing tradition of blessing the foods to be eaten on Easter. The Rev. Peter Szamocki, the pastor of St. Joseph's and a native of Poland, where the custom originated, will bless the food at noon, 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. tomorrow at the church, 1010 Liberty St. For hundreds of years, people of Polish or other Eastern European descent have taken baskets of Easter foods to...

ASHTABULA, Ohio - Panicked witnesses to a fatal Easter service shooting in Ohio feared many might be killed as the victim's son approached the pulpit, waving a handgun and yelling about God and Allah. "Tragic as it is, it could have been so much worse," the Rev. Steve Sargent, associate pastor of the Hiawatha Church of God in Christ in Ashtabula, said Monday. Police say Reshad Riddle, 25, went to the church Sunday afternoon and killed his father, Richard Riddle, 52, with a single shot from a handgun.

When the red-tailed hawk laid her first egg last Monday, birders knew they were in for an Easter egg treat. In each of the last four springs, the hawk, known as a formel haggard but called "Mom" by her fans, laid three eggs three days apart. If the pattern continued, Monday's egg would be followed by a second on Thursday, which it was. And as hawk watchers monitored a webcam feed streamed online by the Franklin Institute, they saw a third egg appear Sunday morning. "You can see things happen that you're not really supposed to see, because normally these nests are at the top of pine trees or at the top of cliffs," said Della Micah, a self-described hawk fanatic.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis marked Christianity's most joyous day with a passionate plea for world peace, celebrating his first Easter Sunday as pontiff in the enthusiastic company of more than 250,000 people who overflowed from St. Peter's Square. With eloquent words in his Easter message, Francis lamented enduring conflicts in the Middle East, on the Korean peninsula, and elsewhere and remembered the world's neediest people. With physical gestures, he illustrated the personal, down-to-earth caring he brings as a pastor to this new papacy - cradling a disabled child held out to him in the crowd and delightedly accepting a surprise gift thrust at him. Francis shared in his flock's exuberance as they celebrated Christianity's core belief that Jesus Christ rose from the dead after crucifixion.

At Potito's Bakery at 16th and Ritner in South Philadelphia, the moneymaker has always been its famous cannoli, ranked tops in the city the last four years. Potito's owners since 2009, Matthew and Cristina Benigno, wanted to take the next step, so the couple opened a second shop at 1315 Walnut St. about two months ago and they have another opening in North Wildwood just before Memorial Day weekend. The big question now: Can this traditional neighborhood bakery succeed with locations throughout the region?

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Kingsway Church in Cherry Hill used to host a modest Easter egg hunt, by Pastor Bryon White's standards: about 3,000 eggs, and 400 children and parents. White, however, had been harboring greater ambitions. "I kind of had this grand vision of 25,000 eggs," he said. When he shared his idea with staff at the Assembly of God church before last Easter, "people looked at me like I was insane," White said. He now presides over what he believes to be Cherry Hill's largest egg hunt.

Kingsway Church in Cherry Hill used to host a modest Easter egg hunt, by Pastor Bryon White's standards: about 3,000 eggs and 400 kids and parents. White, however, had been harboring greater ambitions. "I kind of had this grand vision of 25,000 eggs," he said. When he shared his idea with staff at the Assembly of God church before last Easter, "people looked at me like I was insane," White said. He now presides over what he believes to be Cherry Hill's largest egg hunt. On Saturday, volunteers from Kingsway will scatter 30,008 plastic eggs across the Cherry Hill High School West football field.

Mariah Bey was the first to arrive in the kitchen for our third cooking lesson. "Hellooooo," she crooned, throwing her arms wide open to announce herself. "What are we cooking today?" "Omelets," I said. "And you get to decide what to put in. I have lots of choices: mushrooms, peppers, greens, cheese, tomatoes. And we're also going to dye eggs for Easter. " "We're going to dye eggs!" she cried, her eyes filling with excitement. "This is the best cooking class ever!" I've been cooking once a week with fifth- and sixth-grade girls from St. Martin de Porres school in North Philadelphia, with the goal of improving not only their culinary skills but also their nutrition with easy meals they can make themselves.

Monday had the lowest high - 39 degrees - in more than a month, and the next two days could see overnight lows flirt with freezing in Philadelphia. But by Friday, it should begin to feel more like spring. Sunday and Monday could even see 60 - a mark hit only twice so far this dreary, snow-spattered month. Amazingly, this year's high of 68 happened Jan. 30. No wonder an Ohio prosecutor indicted Punxsutawney Phil for fraud , threatening to seek the death penalty. The groundhog was wrong again, predicting an early spring.